October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, so drink up!

Almost every major company these days seems to have a line that donates proceeds toward the fight against breast cancer. Here’s another that’s joined in:

Photos of breast-cancer survivors adorn Cleavage Creek wine bottles. What a great idea!

Cleavage Creek Cellars is run by a California man, Budge Brown, who lost his wife of 48 years to breast cancer in 2005. He’s taken his anger and turned it into a line of wines, and he donates 10% of the sales toward research.

The line is now in its second year, with the second set having just been introduced this month. The new wines include a 2006 Reserve Napa Cabernet Sauvignon, a 2006 Reserve Napa Petite Sirah and a 2006 Reserve Cabernet-Sirah, as well as a 2006 Secret Red and a 2007 Secret White.

Each bottle of Cleavage Creek wine honors a breast-cancer survivor with a picture on the label. You can find their stories on the Cleavage Creek Web site.

To date, Cleavage Creek has donated more than $37,000 to research.

Know of any other wines or drinks that help out a good cause? Please share!

Well, that, and the fact that I’d be surrounded by wine all afternoon.

It was a little early to be out at the Seacoast around 9 a.m. last Saturday. But it was a gorgeous New England fall day. I caught up with friends in the registration tent, and I was surprised to see maybe a hundred or 200 people in the tent by the time the day was about to start. I bought my $6 T-shirt (really, you can’t go wrong at that price), gathered my pruning shears, and I was good to go.

The employees brought us to one area of grapes where we were asked to start shearing. We were each given bins to fill with grapes. (It’s a good thing I’ve been working on my arms at the gym — those things got heavy quickly!) With so many people and only so many rows of grapes, it was almost amusing to see people race around to try to grab at more grapes.

After we finished the first section of grapes, we moved onto another type, and then a third. The third section was the most difficult to get at, as there were more leaves covering the grapes, and some of the fruit didn’t look as good as the first two sections, so we were in that area the longest finding the perfect fruit.

The atmosphere was great. Most people were really friendly and having great conversation. It was a great day to get pictures with your friends in a casual, relaxing environment. Only a few louder noises were made when people accidentally got clipped with the pruning shears (yup, I injured myself) or were stung by bees (that was me, too!).

The couple hours we were out working went by quickly. I couldn’t believe we had finished in such a short amount of time. But it was almost lunchtime at that point. I could smell food, but wasn’t exactly sure what was coming out of the kitchen.

Everyone was also given a commemorative wine glass to mark their participation in the event. Here is one of ours filled with the raspberry wine. (Thanks for the photo, Jen!)

In the meantime, we did — what else? — sample some wine. It took me a while to make my decision from the wine list, as well as because I was silently poking fun at the people in line who were ordering beer. (Hello?! You’re at a winery. Get wine.) I chose a glass of the strawberry wine, and what a great choice! It was so light and fun to drink. My pals at the table had bought some bottles of wine, choosing the raspberry and apple. The raspberry was a close second to the strawberry in taste, and the apple wine was very subtle and could probably be paired with a better variety of foods.

Then the food was ready to be served. YES! The meal consisted of delicious homemade rolls, cole slaw, pasta salad, bone-in chicken, and beef carved by the chef. Now THAT’S what I’m talking about. And not only did we get to fill up our plates with that, we also were given a great selection to choose from for dessery. I chose a slice of raspberry cheesecake, while some others at my table opted for the pumpkin, which was fantastic!

The day ended just as casually as it started. I popped in the store again to bring home a bottle of strawberry wine (about $11) to enjoy later, and I was ready to go home and nap.

Flag Hill is beautiful. The owner mentioned that weddings are being done there. (Maybe I should have looked at Seacoast locations when I was deciding where to hold my own upcoming wedding!) It would be a great backdrop for wedding day photos, too. And it would be fun to offer guests local wine.

I’m excited to go to more of these events in the future. Do you have one to recommend? Please share!

Magic Hat's new Participation Lager

If you’re (a geek) like some of us, watching a political debate can be as much of a kick as some people get from their Sunday afternoon NFL.  And as we romp into the final stretch of the presidential campaign, it’s time to start thinking about Friday night debate-watching libations.  I vote (pun intended) for Participation Lager.  Magic Hat has unveiled this election-season treat to “bring democracy back to its roots” by taking it to “the neighborhood taverns where America was born. It’s here that the Magic Hat staff intends to reach out to unregistered citizens of all starts and stripes and get each and every one excited about pouring some political action of a personal kind into the ballot box.”  Fun, though one hopes enthused beer drinkers take at least part of the message metaphorically (or is it just me for whom that last bit painted an odd mental picture?).   Magic Hat is partnered up with HeadCount.org to encourage and facilitate voter registration.  I found the beer big, spicy and crisp — perfect for autumn and the perfect accompaniment for an October debate in front of a roaring fire…  I’m looking forward to sharing a couple of twelve packs among an equal mix of Republican and Democrat friends and see well lubricated conversation ensue.  And all kidding aside, hats off to Magic Hat for killing two birds with one stone – encouraging civic participation and making a darn tasty beer!